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My Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Italy

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I’ve subscribed to Universal Yums at www.UniversalYums.com . It’s a subscription service where you can subscribe or gift international boxes of snacks in a number of ways. Some of the basic offerings are a Yum Box. The Yum Box is six snacks, comes with a small booklet with, fun facts, trivia, a recipe and more and runs around $15.00 that includes shipping.

Fun facts and Recipe
Trivia

The larger offerings are the Yum Yum Box. All that above plus more and double the snacks for around $25.00.

The biggest offering is called The Super Yum Box. You get the above plus more and 20 snacks for around $40.00.

I let my husband pick out the first snack. He picked crisp almond cookies called Amarettini.

The cookies are very tiny and very crispy and are extremely almond forward. I think they are very good and the little bag is filled with more cookies than I imagined. This one is very good. I hope we didn’t eat the best one first again.

My husband picks the next one. It’s some sort of carrot/orange snack cake. Now this one I expected to hate because I’m not a big fan of carrot cake or most packaged snack cakes.

This is a first…….It’s surprisingly good and seems fresh. I don’t get the carrot. The cake is just moist. The cream is laced with orange and isn’t too sweet. I can eat this…It’s good.

Next we went to the Yum Bag and tried the Lemon Fizzy Soda Candy at the top of the picture.

OMG this isn’t sweet. It’s so tangy it is painful to my mouth. My husband just munched his down and said, not very fizzy or good. I painfully let mine dissolve thinking that it might get better. Mine didn’t get fizzy either and stayed painful till the last few moments. I would not try this one again.

Artificially ketchup potato chips….???????

I open the bag and they smell like ketchup….They do have the taste of ketchup but a little sweeter and also too tangy….my mouth is very sensitive and the chemicals in the chips burn my mouth…..Doesn’t bother my husband though.

I wanted to save this for last but we didn’t.

Novi chocolate hazelnut bar. This chocolate bar just melts in your mouth. It’s creamy milk chocolate that is full of flavor and even the hazelnuts are full of hazelnut flavor. I wish I had another one of these bars in my box. This one was really good.

Truffle potato chips.

I open the bag and get a slight truffle aroma. The chips are very small and are light and crisp. They do have a pleasant truffle kind of taste to them that lingers in the mouth a bit. Another very good.

Here are tarallini. They are little tasty lemon and black pepper laced micro mini bagel shaped crackers. These are very tasty. I could use another bag of these too.

Now I’m trying my last treat.

It’s a round chocolate ball that is called Tiramisu. I usually don’t like that dessert made with ladies fingers, espresso, cream and rum…..Well I will give this a try.

Ummm I get the espresso right away but it’s not too strong and quickly turns to a rich milk chocolate taste that explodes into my mouth. It’s seems very rich but also is very satisfying….Wow I like it!

Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Italy

www.UniversalYums.com

I note that your experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

Universal Yum Box – Russia – My Forking Thoughts

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I’ve subscribed to www.UniversalYums.com . It’s a subscription service that sends you an international box of snacks once a month. They offer three different size boxes.

Small (called a Yum Box)- 6 snacks, a 12 page activity booklet with a recipe) around $15.00

Medium (called a Yum Yum Box) 12 snacks, activity book & more around $25.00

Large ( called Super Yum Box) 20 snacks, activity book & more around $40.00

So far I’m just doing the basic 6 snack Yum Box.

I open the box and wonder what I’ll get?

I look at the first few pages of the activity booklet first.

I read a little about Russia. I see a recipe for beef stroganoff. Turn the page and I see some fun facts.

The box also comes with a scorecard so I can jot down my thoughts.

I should have read the next page before we started the tastings because they recommended to do the tastings in a certain order. I accidentally tasted the best one first. I picked it because it was a smaller treat and I wanted to start with something small.

We start by sharing one of the snacks.

I’m not sure what it is called but it is a wafer bar with cocoa, hazelnuts and peanuts.

WOW! It’s all melty like REAL chocolate.

Gosh this is delicious. I never tasted a wafer bar with such a delicious coating. No wax here! This is really good. It’s not even like a candy bar. It’s more like the chocolate ganache coating from a pastry shop. American candy bars are very inferior compared to this…….Even the wafers and fillings are good. WOW! I sure wouldn’t mind more of these.

Here is the next one we tried.

I have no idea what the package says but this is a pack of two white chocolate and hazelnut filled wafer bars.

The wafer bars are crisp and the filling is unusually good. More like something from a bakery and not from a shelf. No waxy feeling at all. No chemical taste. It’s rich with the right amount of buttery sweetness. I just wish the hazelnut flavor popped a little more but this is still really good.

We only wanted a little bit of sweet so we opened the Yum Bag.

I wonder what is inside?

Looks like fruity gummies and something more interesting with coconut and hazelnuts. I go for the more interesting.

It’s like a wafer bon bon. It’s a white chocolate coating mixed with shredded coconut that coats a wafer shell filled with extra sweet frosting that has a hazelnut center. This one its slightly waxy and slightly too sweet. Not my favorite.

Here’s the next one.

I was suppose to try this one first. It’s some sort of coated milk cake.

This one lacks sweetness and also lacks a good flavor. It is flavored with something I can’t identify. This its my least favorite so far.

Ok next was mushroom croutons.

They smell sort of odd. They are light, airy and crisp in texture. They taste better than they smell. some of them actually taste like mushroom base. (base the stuff you add to soup if you didn’t make a stock) some of them have more flavor and salt than others in my package. For me some of them run a little salt forward but they really do taste like mushroom. Not bad!

Next.

These are suppose to be Swiss cheese flavored potato chips.

They smell sort of buttery. They have a powdery exterior and are very thin but in my package the chips are not very crisp. At first I can almost imagine a Swiss cheese flavor but that quickly turns to an artificial margarine type flavor. I really don’t like these chips.

These were the gummies from the yum bag. They might be good but I don’t like gummy candy so I made my husband try them. He thought one did taste like lemon or something citrusy but he couldn’t identify the other one.

The last one.

It looks good……..????

I go to taste….The chocolate is extra milky and the filling is more like jelly than the creamy look it has on the wrapper.

You know I can sure go for another one of these………..The was the wafer with cocoa, hazelnuts and peanuts.

Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums from Russia.

I can’t wait to try what I get next month!

www.UniversalYums.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience and opinion may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

My First Box of Universal Yums – Columbia

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I’ve subscribed to a subscription of Universal Yums at www.UniversialYums.com .They send you a box of International snacks. You can subscribe or gift in a number of ways. You also have to choose from three different sizes of snack boxes. The basic Yum Box is 6 snacks, a 12 page booklet with trivia, games and a recipe and runs around $15. a month. Next is the Yum Yum Box it is all that and they say more……and comes with 12 snacks and runs around $25. a month. The largest box is called The Super Yum Box. It is similar to the Yum Yum Box but comes with 20 snacks and runs around $40. a month.

I signed up for just the basic Yum Box (around $15.) that comes with 6 international snacks plus extra. My first box came with all kinds of treats from Columbia. I forgot to take a picture of just opening the box. This is my box after a few days of snacking.

It comes with a booklet with some facts about Columbia.

It also came with a recipe for arepas.

Some fun trivia.

Here are all the snacks.

Mayonnaise flavored potato chips, coconut wafer bar, lemon bacon chips, white chocolate cookie nuggets, a nougat chocolate bar and some sort of confection that is a mash-up of marshmallow and gummy in the shape of penguins.

They also included a surprise bag of a couple other things.

Coffee taffy and a passionfruit bubblegum pop. The coffee taffy tasted just like coffee. Had the texture of taffy but got softer. The passionfruit pop tasted like passionfruit but mixed with talcum powder. I didn’t take it to the bubblegum center.

We tried something that looked sort of familiar…..

Cookies and Cream White Chocolate Nuggets.

They taste like smashed up Oreos with extra frosting that is waxy. If you like Oreo cookies then you will like them.

Then we opened up this one.

It’s a chocolate bar filled with marshmallowy choco-nougat. Outer coating was a little waxy but did have a cocoa taste to it. Marshmallowy nougat isn’t my jam so we go to the next one.

Lemon Bacon chips (oy vey)

They don’t actually have bacon in them.

Pelllet (cooked) style fake bacon

They don’t taste like bacon but they are so artificially sour that they are painful to eat.

This next one looks cute.

They smell like Juicy Fruit Gum.

They are penguin shaped and are like a cross between a marshmallow and a gummy. I guess they are a fluffy gummy penguin.

These aren’t bad. They taste like coconut wafers. These are ok.

Artificially flavored mayonnaise potato chips……(why?)…They smell like normal potato chips……they are powdery and have an odd sour finish…….Or maybe it’s a chemical finish?

There is a YUM scorecard to fill out.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the snacks from Columbia I still enjoyed the adventure. That was my first box of Universal Yums.

I wonder WTFork Universal Yums will send me next time?

www.UniversalYums.com

I do note that your experience may indeed differ from my experience.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Fudge Brownie M&M’s

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When a new M&M comes out I just feel like I have to try it even if it rolls out during the pandemic. Armed with onion googles and a mask I risk death by entering an empty CVS store to purchase the last two bags of Fudge Brownie M&M’s. They were on sale for two bags for $5.00 and apparently they were sold out fast.

I get home open up the bag and take a whiff…Ummm it smells just like a bag of brownies.

I pour some out and I see that they are large for M&M’s and they are very irregular and sort of lumpy in shape. They come in the usual M&M colors yellow, orange, red, brown and blue.

I eat one.

It’s really different……It’s chewy….like a caramel-ee chewy brownie. It really does taste like a brownie….It’s the usual candy shell with the usual chocolate inside and the center is like a lump of chewy brownie….but it feels like it’s mixed with a non sticking caramel.

I eat a few more because they are pretty good tasting.

But the shells are melting in my hand.

HEY WTFork! That is not suppose to happen!

Maybe I got a defective bag?

Well they taste good. Gotta be happy with that.

Worth a try!

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Fudge Brownie M&M’s.

Your opinion may differ.

The Forking Truth

Some Forking Thoughts on the Christmas Candy Cane

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A long time ago in a land far away it was said that children were given candy sticks in church to make them shut The Fork Up. It also has been written that a person from Germany got the idea to put a little bit of religion in the candy sticks by making them Shepard hook shape.

Some time has passed and someone got the idea to add hyssop flavoring to the candy because hyssop was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Maybe nobody really wanted child sacrifice on their hands and they stopped adding hyssop flavoring. But maybe the real reason they stopped adding hyssop was because mint was cheaper and tasted better…

The White Stripes were added.

Or was it the Red Stripes symbolizing the blood of Christ?

Maybe you noticed that many candy canes are not flavored with mint anymore.

The following candy canes are from Archie McPhee.com

And there are Forking Oreo Candy Canes.

www.Spangler.com
Doesn’t Forking matter what flavor the candy is. The Forking kid will shut the FORK UP!

We hope you have a sweet Christmas or have a Happy Joyful whatever the FORK you are celebrating and Have a Happy Forking New Year!

The Forking Truth

References

www.Wikipedia.com

www.WhyChristmas.com

www.NoelNoel.com

www.FoodNetwork.com

My Forking Thoughts on White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie M&M’s – WTFORK it tastes like……….

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These White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie M&M’s were out perviously (last fall or the fall before I forget) but this is one flavor I skipped. I thought I’d try them this year.

I start by opening the bag and taking a whiff.

I see that I got lots of broken pieces of M&M’s all over.

They are mostly larger and slightly irregular in shape….compared to standard M&M’s. They come in colors of white, orange and a brown that looks just like dog doo colored.

Now I smell them.

It smells familiar………sort of like a spice cookie but with sour cream cheese frosting.

I taste one…this is kinda gross………It’s really greasy……Maybe I just got a bad batch…..or maybe these spoiled in the truck making its way to 110 degree F Phoenix.

This taste like FORKING greasy artificial GINGER BREAD with molasses and sour cream cheese frosting.

This doesn’t taste like Pumpkin Pie.

I wonder if this flavor was concocted from other leftover flavors?

I don’t know WTFork they’ve done here but I imagine that it could be possible that I am tasting some sort of carrot cake flavor that is possibly mixed with gingerbread.

This one just doesn’t taste good.

There’s an unpleasant after taste from this one.

BLECH! These are sickening!…….and they are greasy gross.

On the bright side I know that I am not going to gain any weight from these M&M’s.

I have to give these White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie M&M’s a Not Worth a Fork!

NOT WORTH A FORK!

Taste is subjective and your opinion and experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Creepy Cocoa Crisp M&M’s from Target – Worth a Fork!

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I saw these NEW Creepy Cocoa Crisp M&M’s at my local Target Store. These Creepy Cocoa Crisp M&M’s are exclusive to Target Stores. This flavor is described on the package as a cocoa crisp center with a layer of dark chocolate. I look at the package and notice that this is the first new or limited edition flavor of M&M’s in a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG Time…….maybe many years (or decades) that doesn’t say with artificial flavor on the front of package.

I look at the ingredients…..and get excited……..Looks very promising…..

I open the package up and take a sniff.

It smells just like a bag of chocolate chips.

I pour some M&M’s out.

These are smaller sized and slightly irregular in shape. They come in colors of yellow, red and brown.

I eat one……Ummmm It’s chocolatey and crunchy. It reminds me of the “Crispy” variety of M&M’s but it taste like chocolate chips and a little bit of hot cocoa flavor.

I eat another and let this one melt in my mouth. It had the usual sweet candy shell. Then I’m left with chocolate that taste like a chocolate chip. Then the chocolate melts away and I’m left with a small crispy chocolate cereal lump in my mouth. The chocolate lump taste similar to what I think I remember a cocoa puff taste like. (it’s been decades since I ate a Cocoa Puff)

I bit into a few so you can see what they look like inside.

DANG !!!!!!! It’s Forking easy to keep eating them. They seem lighter and airier than regular M&M’s with a good chocolate taste……They have the right amount of sweetness, salt and are ever so slightly bitter with that chocolate chip flavor and a smidgen of hot cocoa…… It’s actually hard to stop eating them!

I’d say these new Creepy Cocoa Crisp M&M’s are Worth a Fork! These are good enough to be a permanent M&M flavor.

Worth a Fork!

My opinion may indeed differ from yours.

The Forking Truth

Weird Food Snacks and Candy I saw in Las Vegas – It’ Sugar Store

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LOOK! It’s Elvis Crespo and Madonna…..Oh my! ……No it’s Elvis Costello and Blondie……..Only kidding… my bad! …………It’s Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe made out of FORKING JELLY BEANS! ………..Aren’t they great!

The It’Sugar Store sells so many silly things…….Some things are unique to the Las Vegas location.

Remember Bob Ross? I used to paint along with him and made “Happy Little Trees.” There is Bob Ross Energy Drinks and Happy Little Trees Mints.

Here’s one of my Bob Ross paint-a-longs with some happy trees.

There’s Candy Noodles and Candy Sushi.

WOW they look real…..Candy Tacos!

LOL Elvis PEZ-Ley Limited Edition Pez……lol!

Make a gummy wall out of gummy blocks made in China. Hope you don’t feel all blocked up after you eat them!

I never thought I’d come across pickle cotton candy……..

Frosted Donut Cotton Candy makes more sense…..I wonder if it really taste like a frosted donut?

They offered a bunch of unusual chocolates.

World’s best farter crossed out and made into father….lol

Hot salted Sriracha milk chocolate…ummmmmmm….???? might be tasty but not in pho……

On the left is marriage is sweeter the second time around….Great dessert for second weddings!

Second bar is the Mensch Bar. …..You’re as sweet as chocolate….This is a bar you hand out to someone more like Batman. Someone who is a person of integrity and honer.

Then there’s Rock’N Chocolate bar with popping candy….

They offer many gummy candies

A gummy breakfast with bacon, an egg and detailed buttered pancake. There are gummy donuts, gummy cupcakes, gummy burgers and even a gummy pickle.

What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A GUMMY BEAR! They got gummy bears in diabetic size and diabetic coma size.

They also milk chocolate cover the gummy bears and call them dingle bearies……..

The high fiber cereal Colon Blow and to the right are little yellow jars of Urine for a treat

Then they also offer Welcome to Sour then Sweet LAS VEGAS Nevada.

Those were some of the WEIRD Food, candy and snack I saw in Las Vegas at IT’Sugar.

www.itsugar.com

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on New Hazelnut Spread M&M’s

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There’s a NEW permanent flavor of M&M’s out there and it’s Hazelnut Spread. The M&M’s colors are the traditional ones of yellow, orange, green, blue, red and brown with the usual smooth shiny finish.

The bag is a little weird looking if you’re not paying attention.

Honest to GOD I thought the Blue M was holding a Poop emoji……but maybe I need bifocals now so maybe it’s just me?????

I start by opening the bag and take in a big sniff.

It smells like chocolate.

Pour some out and take a bite to see the center.

They do look a little different with a lighter center.

I eat a couple……..

The texture is different and these M&M’s have a soft center…..at first they don’t taste so different from regular M&M’s. They seem like regular M&M’s but that are oddly soft…….and a faint hazelnut aftertaste.

Then I let one dissolve in my mouth…..At first not any different with the same hard sweet shell. Then I taste the familiar chocolate……Oddly it isn’t till I’m almost done I get the hazelnut….followed by a little salt.

These Hazelnut Spread M&M’s are better to savor than to eat…..

Now if you let them dissolve real SUPER SLOW…….Shell melts….next goes the soft chocolate….next you are left with all hazelnut center that oddly seems slightly harder than really soft chocolate……You definitely get the hazelnut best when you eat them this way….

If you are just eating the M&M’s like a normal person……. The hazelnut flavor is a very good and natural flavor but I wish the hazelnut flavor wasn’t so late to the party. Can’t taste it till the M&M is almost gone and then the hazelnut hit comes followed by a light touch of salt.

************Unless you let these M&M’s dissolve slow as can be you won’t get all the hazelnut flavor.********** (well at least from the bag I tried)

Those were my Forking Thoughts on the Hazelnut Spread M&M’s…..Your opinion and thoughts may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth


Someone Laid a Finger on my Butterfinger Candy Bar – WTFORK Happened to the Butterfinger?

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The Butterfinger Candy Bar was created in 1923 by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company of Illinois. Between 1964 and 1981 The Curtiss Candy Company changed hands and also merged into other companies that include Nabisco and R.J. Reynolds. In 1990 Nestle bought Butterfinger (and Baby Ruth) from Nabisco. Then in March 2018 Nestle sold Butterfinger to Ferrero. (picture above is from www.BussinessWire.com)

www.TeamHellions.com

February 2019 fun sized Butterfinger Candy Bars began to display “Improved Recipe” on the packaging. (red on right side – right upper corner in photo below)

Bite sized Butterfingers (that are expired from my local grocery store) are made by Nestle.

Fresh new Butterfinger Candy Bars are now made by Ferrara Candy Company.

Nestle Butterfinger Ingredients
Ferrero Butterfinger Ingredients

When you compare the ingredients you might read that molasses is no longer an ingredient in the Butterfinger Candy bar…..and the sodium has increased by 20%.

www.LazerTimePodcast.com

The Butterfinger now lacks that caramelized molasses flavor and is now more salty.

www.AdsByDee.com

Other changes are that the Butterfinger now uses a larger sized peanut in its core and more cocoa and milk in it’s chocolate coating.

www.Simpsons.Wikia.com

The Ferrero Company also dropped the hydrogenated oils and uses a double layer wrapper instead.

On the left is a Nestle Bite Size Butterfinger. On the Right is the Ferrero Butterfinger

The Nestle Bite Size Butterfinger (on the left) has a more textured peanut butter type of candy threw it with a more caramelized nutty kind of taste.

The Ferrero has a noticeably better chocolate coating and more deep peanut flavor but it is salty…..seems less sweet…..It’s almost sandy…….It doesn’t have that flaky texture that the Nestle Butterfinger had. The Molasses taste is missing.

Both are good just different now.

Your opinion and experience may differ.

Those were my Forking Thoughts on WTFork happened to the Butterfinger Candy Bar.

The Forking Truth

www.WikiPedia.com